Vegetables

With the vegetable sector amounting to around 10% of the total agricultural output value in the EU, vegetables represent one of the most important food categories in European supermarkets. Farmers face numerous challenges in their efforts to guarantee a continued supply. Most importantly disease and pest control, the competition with weeds and the preservation of soil fertility.

In order to support the long-term growth of the sector, the vegetable trial aims to demonstrate how the cultivation process can be automated, using an intelligent combination of sensors and data analysis. These IoT technologies will be tested under different conditions, ranging from fully-controlled indoor greenhouses to semi-controlled greenhouses and open-air, non-regulated vegetable cultivation.

Special attention will be given to organic farming, where weed control is a specific challenge. Reliable traceability throughout the supply chain and the simplification of certification systems is also included in the trial.